Second attempt; slow progress

[toronado13]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here goes...

I am taking my second shot at making some wine... my first was from a kit, that turned out so-so... it is drinkable, but has an odd taste to it, I'm not educated enough in wine and winemaking to describe what's not right, but if I had to venture a guess, I'd say it tastes and smells like it's unfinished, a little yeasty still. That being said, I am now making a smaller batch of fruit wine from strawberries, and I am afraid I am repeating some mistakes b/c I am finding it has the same smell to start...

I am following a recipe that had me smash up the fruit and keep it in the juice for 5 days while I kept checking the SG. After the recommended 5 days, it said I should be to about 1.030 and time to move it to the carboy. However, my SG seems to be just sitting at 1.000 and not changing. This is were it says it should be after three weeks, so I can't imagine that is right.

I'm not sure if this is a common question, but it's one I have and maybe it's causing my trouble... during the primary fermentation in my plastic bucket with lid, should I have been using an airlock?

Any advice is greatly appreciated so that I might not end up with more junk to drink.

Thanks...

Kevin

 

[Wade E]

Welcome. As for the kit wine Im guessing it was a 7.5 liter red wine kit. In my opinion those small kits dont produce a good red wine. The bigger ones do though if you are still interested. If so tell us what kind of red wine you like and we can suggest a good kit as they really do produce very good wine. On the kit agan, how long has it been since it finished fermenting as like any wine it needs a lot of time to progress even hough these kit manufacturers say they are ready.
As far as the fruit wine goes, it sounds like it is done fermenting and the directions sound about right to let it sit a little for the lees to settle out before you rack again off heavy lees and then degas and stabilize with k-meta and sorbate. What was your starting sg and what yeast did you use?

 

[Luc]

I am following a recipe that had me smash up the fruit and keep it in the juice for 5 days while I kept checking the SG. After the recommended 5 days, it said I should be to about 1.030 and time to move it to the carboy. However, my SG seems to be just sitting at 1.000 and not changing. This is were it says it should be after three weeks, so I can't imagine that is right.

Kevin

The problem is Kevin that you are dealing with mother nature and she is not predictable.

Your wine fermented much more faster as normally is the case.
There was a thread over here about a similar experience I had. I made an apple wine as an experiment and it fermented out in just a few days.

So do not worry, everything is ok.

Rack the wine indeed to secondary and leave it there a few weeks. Sediment will settle out and the wine will clear.

About the taste/flavor. I suppose you are experiencing the flavors of a young wine.
The yeast flavors will settle out when the wine matures.
So at this moment Patience is the key factor at your stage in winemaking.

Luc

 

[Nubz]

you are dealing with mother nature and she is not predictable

i like that Luc
very true

welcomed to the forum Kevin